ELATED EXECUTIVES: Ron Anderson (L), of Yule, Johnstone and Anderson, and Neil Coburn (R), dean of the School of Aviation and Business at Selkirk College, present the winning executives of Alter Ego Corp., Elena Elder (centre left) and Debbie McLennan, with certificates of recognition.

Earlier this month, first- and second-year students in Selkirk College’s business administration program got the chance to take the helm of an international athletic footwear company to see if they could develop and manage the business successfully in a highly competitive marketplace.

While the first-year students were charged with developing catchy marketing campaigns for new lines of athletic footwear, the second-year students were busy deciding how to allocate resources and meet the challenges put up by their competitors, as well as rising production costs and fickle consumers.

The Business Strategy Game, which is how students at Selkirk College get this type of hands-on experience without completely losing their nerve or their shirts, is a simulation where teams of students engage in head-to-head competition against companies run by other class members.

Just as in the real world, the companies compete in a global market arena, selling branded and private-label athletic footwear in four geographic regions — Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

The challenge for each company’s management team is to craft and execute a competitive strategy that results in a respected brand image, keeps their company in contention for global market leadership and produces a good financial performance as measured by earnings per share, return on equity investment, stock price appreciation and credit rating.

“Students come away realizing that it’s not easy to manage such a complex enterprise and that careful strategizing and teamwork are real significant parts in remaining solvent and competitive,” said Tiffany Snauwaert, Selkirk College’s business administration program co-ordinator.

All companies begin the exercise on the same footing from a global perspective—with equal sales volume, global market share, revenues, profits, costs, product quality and performance and brand recognition. The companies are all profitable.

In the short term, however, company management must bring the new online sales venture to a profitable position, cope with the high production costs at their North American plant and decide if the Latin American market should be entered.

Company managers have wide strategic latitude in staking out a market position and improving their performance, but there’s no built-in bias that favours any one strategy. Any well-conceived, well-executed competitive approach is capable of succeeding, provided it is not overpowered by the strategies of competitors or defeated by the presence of too many copycat strategies.

This year’s competition saw a company called Alter Ego, consisting of Debbie McLennan and Elena Elder, become the overall winners of the competition.

“The Business Simulation competition was a great chance to apply all the theory we learned and the knowledge we gained from being in the business administration program,” said Elder.

“It was stressful and it was fun,” McLennan added. “Thinking on your toes really exposes your strengths and weaknesses.”

The marketing side of the competition was won by a company called Decade Athletic Shoes, whose team members were Nichole Flynn, Brad Smithers, Melissa Shulga, Erin Galvin and Chris McKay.

Judges for the business competition were Ron Anderson, partner at the firm of Yule, Johnstone and Anderson; George McIvor, vice-president of finance for Selkirk College; and Johnny Strilaeff, vice-president of investments for the Columbia Basin Trust.

Judges for the marketing presentations were Kelvin Saldern, executive director of the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology; Lucie Fortier, institutional marketing co-ordinator for Selkirk College; and Sharon Stoddard, program marketing co-ordinator for Selkirk College.

Additional sponsors were the Selkirk College Bookstore, Leo Perra Grant, Selkirk College Registrar and Kootenay Savings Credit Union.

For more information about Selkirk College go to www.selkirk.ca